Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Running in late, I must take in the wonder of Avery Fisher Hall more briskly than preferred.  I dash up to the fifth floor, only to find that I must miss the Philharmonic‘s first song.  Luckily, a large screen is provided showing the concert live.  I wait on the outskirts of the very top level in the concert hall.  When I am finally allowed in, I am disappointed to find I have missed the first of four songs, thus missing one quarter of the show.  Yet my anguish is soon abated as I am stunned by the following number.

John Adams’s The Wound-Dresser begins.  This is the first and only piece to include a vocal part, naturally making the music that much more relatable.  Further, the lyrics are in English.  The lyrics are given, translating through the barrier of operatic singing.  This is not a long aria; it is a contemporary piece.  The words are those of Walt Whitman as recorded in his collection Specimen Days, an account of the Civil War.

The phrasing is made very clear, musically manifested as a series of unconnected lines.  One may say that they lie very powerfully within themselves, but make an understanding of stanzas and the prose as a whole difficult. Every few lines reads as one, and these, standing alone, move the audience effortlessly.  Still, they would be nearly impossible to comprehend with depth if they were not printed on a screen, for the style and the largo (very slow) tempo.

A man with a great heart serves as a healer to a wounded soldier.  The damage and gore is described with fervent passion.  At one point he sings, “And I think I could not refuse this moment to die for you, if that would save you,” with a crescendo (getting louder) of the last two words.  The melodic dissonances create an ominous urgency.

The song goes on for over fifteen minutes; the poem reads less than a page and a half in the playbill.  In perusing both, the vocalized work and written poem offer very different interpretations.  The former, done with an orchestra and baritone voice is of a definite form, now presented to us in a precise manner.  The individualized lines also give the listener a different idea of the plot.  The reader understands that the healer has seen thousands of men, not few.

The second song finishes. My heart is thumping minutes after, as we begin intermission and as we return for the second half.

Franz Schubert’s “Unfinished Symphony” is a modern treat.  It was not offered for years after his death, and has not been played very often after it was finally released.  It plays with endless dissonance in both a melodic and harmonic form.  The always alternating rhythm adds to the cacophony.  Many leave astounded, for this wildcat-like piece is not another relaxing, classical song.  However, the final one, Berg’s “Three Orchestral Pieces, Op. 6,” certainly measures up to that standard.

Even the brownie I bought exceeded my expectations. It was a hefty three and a half dollars, yet the pure fudge was so rich I split it with friends and still had some leftover.  Don’t miss the philharmonic OR the venue.

Fun Fact: Alec Baldwin is the host of "The New York Philharmonic This Week," the Orchestra’s 52-week-per-year nationally broadcast radio series for the 2009–10 season.